Oregon Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley introduced climate legislation Thursday to completely phase-out fossil fuels.
Called the "100 by 50 Act," it aims to run 100 percent of the country on clean and renewable energy by 2050.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., supported the launch. “Mr. President your job is to listen to the scientific community which is virtually unanimous in telling us that we’ve got to transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy,” he said.
President Donald Trump has vowed to lift restrictions on the fossil fuel energy industry.
In 2012 he tweeted: "Global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive."
He later said the tweet was a joke.
No Republican politicians spoke at the launch Tursday.
Copyright 2020 EarthFix. To see more, visit .
